Only on Xbox? That's a lie!
Now this is more like it, having only just shaken off the insult that was NFL Street 2, we've got another B-list sports sequel: Outlaw Golf 2 and it's totally restored our faith in the idea of progress. This is a true follow up that builds significantly on what the original offered. It's considerably larger, it's more refined and get this EA, it's hitting shelves at the ultra-justice price of £19.99. Acknowledging that the basic engine is virtually the same as the original, fans and newcomers alike won't be ripped off in the process of checking out the latest update. It's a truly splendid thing made even better by the fact that in all honesty, we would have willingly paid much more for this.
For those that missed out on the original Outlaw Golf, it's a 'wacky', 'urban' infused golf game. But unlike so many sports games which try, and fail, to be wacky or urban, this manages to do it all in a genuinely amusing fashion. Extreme comedy violence, especially on a usually placid golf course, is an indisputably good idea, plain and simple. As are lady characters dressed head-to-toe in PVC bondage attire. In Similarly nasty-but-nice fashion, the 'composure meter' twist to the otherwise straightforward analogue-stick golf game makes everything far more entertaining.
Probably the most common criticism of golf games is that they can get a little boring, especially in single player mode; and OG’s all-prevailing composure meter counters that by affecting the sensitivity of the controls according to how well you hit your last shot. The higher your composure, the more accurately the swing will be delivered; and the lower it is, the more careful you have to be when taking your shot. It's unfathomably cruel in that it makes the game harder the more you struggle. Not only do you have this artificial composure meter to contend with, but you'll have your own natural response to overcome too. You make a mistake and it swings a 9 iron straight at your shin, and then it spits in your face and laughs at you as you fall desperately into a downward spiral of ineptitude. Mwu ha ha!
